A. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for the manufacture of maleic anhydride by the oxidation of aliphatic hydrocarbons, and more particularly to the use of low attrition catalysts suitable for producing maleic anhydride from saturated hydrocarbons in high yields.
B. Description of the Prior Art
Bergman et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,293,268 (hereby incorporated by reference) teaches a process of oxidizing saturated aliphatic hydrocarbons to produce maleic anhydride under controlled temperature conditions in the presence of a phosphorus-vanadium-oxygen catalyst.
Typical phosphorus-vanadium-oxygen catalysts for use in tube-type reactors are formed as pills, pellets, slugs, tablets, or extrusions, collectively termed "agglomerates". Charging of such catalyst agglomerates to a reactor is a problem because the agglomerates are dusty, that is, have very low attrition resistance and the phosphorus-vanadium-oxygen dust is moderately toxic. Catalyst structures are easily broken and such breakage can cause undesirable pressure drop difficulties during reactor operation. In attempts to alleviate such problems, high density forms have been employed using higher tabletting pressures. These high density forms, with corresponding lower porosity, are less active than low density forms.
If the attrition of low density phosphorus-vanadium-oxygen catalysts could be significantly reduced without detriment to catalyst performance in the production of maleic anhydride such reduction would constitute a significant advance in the art and is an object of this invention.